An expert committee constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs to look into an alternate capital site for the successor state of Andhra Pradesh has recommended “decentralised development” of the state and has identified three sub-regions where “capital functions and other institutions can be distributed”. It ruled out any “green field” capital city as being demanded by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.

The panel expressed concern over concentrating all government offices in Guntur and Vijaywada as it will lead to unplanned development.

It said efforts should be made to locate offices of the CM, ministers and secretaries in as compact a manner as possible, in the area beyond the existing urban parts of Vijaywada, Guntur, Tenali and Mangalgiri. Concentrating all development within those areas will add to the “honey pot” character similar to Hyderabad which will detract from the growth prospects of other centres in Andhra, it said.

The five-member panel headed by former Urban development secretary K Sivaramakrishnan identified three sub-regions — Vizag region in Uttarandhra, Rayalaseema ‘Arc’ comprising Kurnool, Anantapur, Tirupathi, Kadapa and Chittoor, and Kalahasti-Nadikudi ‘Spine’, which refers to land along the proposed Kalahasti Nadikudi railway line — for the new capital.

The report strongly came out against locating all government offices in one single place. The committee, which had invited suggestions from public for the new capital, received 5,380 responses.